FWP Commission To Meet In Helena, July 11

Headlines

Fri Jun 22 00:00:00 MDT 2001

Montana's Fish, Wildlife & Parks Commission will meet Wednesday, July 11 in Helena at the FWP Headquarters building at 1420 East Sixth Ave. beginning at 10 a.m. The meeting will be dedicated to discussing and setting the 2001 Mountain Lion Season in FWP administrative Region One. Public comment is being sought on tentative regulations to limit the number of nonresident mountain lion hunters allowed in FWP administrative Region One. House Bill 142, passed by the 2001 Montana State Legislature, provides the authority for the FWP Commission to make this decision.

Two alternatives are being considered. The first would provide that all nonresidents, except those who hunt with registered outfitters, who wish to hunt or chase mountain lions with dogs in FWP Region One must draw a hound handler permit. Nonresidents would be allowed to accompany resident houndsmen during the chase season only. The number of nonresident hound handler permits offered per district would be set at 10 percent of the open quota in each Region One hunting district.

In the second alternative, three mountain lion districts in Libby (100, 103 and 104) would require permits awarded through the drawing for both residents and nonresidents. Hunters would be restricted to hunting lions in the district in which they draw a permit. For the remaining Region One districts, mountain lion hunting would be managed as described in the first alternative.

The proposed alternatives can be obtained by calling 406-444-2612. Comments should be submitted in writing to FWP Wildlife Division, Mountain Lion Alternatives, P.O. Box 200701, Helena, MT 59620-0701 or emailed to fwpwld@state.mt.us by July 6.